Spike Island Rum

The team at Anchor Spirits approached us to refresh their Spike Island spiced rum brand and packaging. We were asked to create a brand which felt both raw and edgy but also premium and sophisticated. They wanted the rum to appeal to bikers and rockers but wanted it to feel just as at home in a highball as it would in a shot glass.

Taking visual cues from rock album artwork, tattoo art and biker culture, we teamed it with historic references from Spike Island in Cork, Ireland, from which the rum takes its name. The label shape is a reference to the 18th century star-shaped fortress on the island, while the skull, anchor and chains hint at the island’s maritime history. We then used these cues to create a monogram of the Spike Island initials. A black and white palette with gold foil details and fluorescent red highlights was used to build on the edgy but sophisticated character, while the language plays into the maritime folklore of “sinners, scoundrels, beggars and thieves”.

As a final touch, we added a secret homage to Alice Cooper which only becomes visible under a blacklight.

The Nature of Things

Benoit Nicol is a perfume and aromatherapy expert with 20 years experience working in New York with some of the best producers of natural oils in the world. He identified a gap in the market for organic and ethically produced aromatherapy products.

The Nature of Things takes its name from the 2,000 year old book ‘De Rerum Natura’ – On the Nature of Things, by Roman poet Lucretius. The book explores epicurean philosophy and the belief that everything in nature can be explained by natural laws, and that happiness can be found by living a simple life, surrounded with friends and in harmony with nature.

We worked with Benoit to create a visual and verbal identity which represents this philosophy. For the brandmark and accompanying elements, we used symbols associated with alchemy and apothecary along with a copper foil to reference the pot stills used during the distillation process.

We then commissioned illustrator Tom Abbiss Smith to develop a suite of botanical illustrations and vibrant patterns for use across the various touchpoints. These illustrations informed the photoshoot we art-directed with photographer Brendan Ryan and stylist Johan Van Der Merwe.

We feel the combination of scientific details and vibrant botanical illustrations come together to create a fresh, memorable, and essentially, unique lifestyle brand. We’re in our element with the results.

UX Design Institute

The UX Design Institute is a new venture from the team behind UXTraining.com, a classroom and online UX training provider. They spotted a gap in the market for a high quality online education service which had the backing of a third level institution. The UX Design institute is the first of its kind – a professional, robust, university-accredited, online course.

UXDI’s mission is to set the global standard for UX education and thus, produce world class UX designers. The courses are high quality yet affordable, while also being engaging, stimulating and inspiring.

Our brief was to create an identity to represent this; a visual and verbal identity which would sit across their website and all outputs of the brand.

We worked closely with the team to establish the right personality for their target audiences. We married it with their ambition and vision to create and an authoritative, accessible identity that was also playful, fresh and engaging.

The concept behind the identity is rooted in touchpoints and interactions. We looked at the simple principle of causality – cause and effect, which are central to user experience. Using a simplified ‘X’ as the starting point for the identity, we created a logo and visual language based around the overarching concept.

We feel it’s a dynamic and engaging identity that sets the tone for a unique product.

Dishy

Dishy provides delicious, restaurant-quality meals delivered to your door, making healthy eating easier for all. Our brief was to create a simple logotype and to art direct the product photoshoot. We worked with stylist Johan van der Merwe and photographers, Sean & Yvette to capture the mouth-watering dishes.

We created an underlying concept of “from our chopping board to your table” to convey the freshness of their produce. We opted for a pared back logotype which could be easily applied to wooden chopping boards to create a continuous theme throughout the visual identity. This chopping board theme can be seen throughout the images and packaging.

Pebble

Pebble is an Irish consultancy, specifically created to work with companies preparing for, or going through, periods of transformation. They offer professional expertise to collaboratively design and implement business operating models, with a focus on simplification, connectivity and results.

Pebble wanted to stand apart from their peers. Their name represents a catalyst for change and the ripples illustrate the transformation they set in motion.

LouYoga

Louise Horgan, has been a yoga teacher for over 20 years. Her areas of speciality have always included pregnancy yoga and active birth. Through her practice and teachings she has become aware of the patterns in nature and how they represent the patterns in our bodies, specifically women.

We worked with Louise to identify what made her unique, helped her build her brand story and her visual identity. The mark represents the balance of sun and the moon, the masculine and the feminine. The small diamonds represent the crown and root chakras – she believes in connecting with a bigger consciousness while being grounded on earth.

We created the mark, language, website and art directed the photography. We wanted to show Louise at peace in her studio and out in nature, walking barefoot on the grass, where she is most at home.

The Brand Project

The Brand Project is a PR and communications consultancy specialising in fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands. We wanted to capture the owner’s bright and effervescent personality through the use of witty language and wordplay. We used the logo as an anchor to play on words, most notably on the business card where she confidently introduces herself as “The answer to your brandprayers”.

Laura Chambers

We worked with Laura to create a simple identity that would represent knitwear, have a luxurious feel and a twist of colour. The velvet textured blush-pink swing tags are debossed with a pink copper holographic foil that changes colour in different lights – luxury with a hit of visual intrigue.

The Way

The Way is a husband and wife team, that offer a holistic approach to fitness and well-being. Their mission is to help people live happy, healthy lives by offering a simple way – move well, train well and eat well to be well.

We worked with Dominic and Grainne on creating their proposition, naming, language and their visual identity. 'The Way’ through it's name and visual representation, describes a movement, a forward looking path and innovative approach to health.

Offset

With over 2,500 attendees each year, Offset has fast become one of the world’s most inspirational, educational and vocational conferences for the design and creative industries. In the 7 years since they began, they have attracted some of the world’s most influential creative icons; Massimo Vignelli, Sir Peter Blake, Paula Scher, David Carson, Milton Glaser, Kyle Cooper, Stefan Sagmeister, Micheal Bierut, Shepard Fairey, Tomi Ungerer, JR, Lance Wyman, George Lois and Louise Fili to name a few. We worked with Offset to design the catalogue for their 2012 event.

Je Sweets

Je Sweets is a new range of Irish artisanal chocolates by chocolatier Síona Ryan. Síona commissioned us to create the identity and packaging labels for Je Sweets.

Our brief was to create something decadent yet tongue-in-cheek, visually inspired by Parisian brasseries and Disco! A Miami inspired theme emerged – palm trees, neon signs and Art Deco architecture. We then had lots of fun collaborating with Siona on the copywriting, really bringing the brand to life.

Síona worked in the music industry for many years before deciding to pursue her passion for chocolate. With a nod to her previous career, each Je Sweets product has a playful, song-inspired name, from the ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’ Espresso Ganaches to the cardamom and ginger infused ‘White Light, White Heat’ White Chocolate bar.

Beautiful chocolate just got interesting.

Innovate Dublin

Innovate Dublin is a social enterprise initiative that helps bring great ideas to life for the benefit of local communities and organisations.Their tone is warm and vibrant, professional and optimistic. We worked with the team on their rebrand, retaining the name but creating their new identity – logo, tagline, language, image style and subsequent print applications.

The logo we created is a monogram based on the initials ‘i’ and ‘d’. This continuous line represents a journey, a path between two points suggesting motion and connectedness. The colour palette is professional with vibrant colours to represent boldness.

The Centre for Effective Services

The Centre for Effective Services (CES) is a not for profit, intermediary organisation connecting policy, practice and research, to ensure implementation of effective services, improving Irish lives. We worked with CES to create two sub-identities and the accompanying brochures.

The first was the ‘Access Evidence’ reports – a series of summaries to support frontline practitioners working with children and their families. Our brief was to create a set of easy-to-digest booklets that would be an engaging tool for practitioners. This was achieved using a modified brand colour palette and childlike, collage-style illustrations.

The ‘On The Right Track’ series – summarising learning from programmes to improve child behaviour – was a similar brief. A sub-identity and series of booklets were required. The brief was to create an engaging series of booklets, with a professional but approachable tone. We used the track motif as a graphic device throughout all four booklets, most notable on the covers where they sit together creating a continuous pattern. This playful concept represents the joined-up thinking that CES provide, enabling practitioners to be ‘On The Right Track’.

Aviary Lane

A hair and beauty salon with two stylish sisters at the helm, their ambition to create an individual experience based on a philosophy of style, comfort and excellence.

The identity reflects the bird-themed name, with two birds coming together, representing the two sisters. It’s feminine, sophisticated and strong with an element of fun brought to life through the avian-themed copy.

Bake Cake Love

Brand design, packaging and identity system for a café and bakery in Singapore. The brand was designed to feel friendly and approachable with a logotype that looks good enough to eat.

Body Project

Body Project is a dedicated personal training and weight loss studio that also offers healthy meal delivery programmes. We were commissioned to refresh the identity – aiming to incorporate fitness and food into the logo. We designed the identity, website and art directed several shoots and videos to accompany the refresh.

Capwell Property Partners

Brand design for a Dublin based property development advisory company. Capwell Property Partners specialise in providing expert advice on property development, investment opportunities and asset management services for their clients. The identity uses a confident yet minimal logo with a simple and contemporary colour palette.

TalentHub

TalentHub are a Dublin based recruitment agency specialising in the marketing, media, digital, ecommerce and tech industries. We created a new identity system consisting of a logo which uses negative space to represent TalenHub’s skill for revealing hidden talent, along with a flexible pattern representing the scope and variety of the industries that they work within.

Covet

Covet is a high-end borrowing boutique – a place for luxurious lends. The brief was to create an identity with a special but worn feel. Something that suggested a special secret.

The Covet identity received a commendation in the Corporate Identity / Brand category at IDI design awards.

Barber on a Bike

The Barber on a Bike is a Dublin barber who’ll take the hassle out of getting your haircut by travelling to you. We created a playful identity which uses a combination of established cycling and barber imagery.

Smith Project

Smith Project is a place for crafts people to share their story, their work and their process. A place to learn from each other, to inspire and be inspired. The goal was to bring the stories behind the craft and makers to the fore. All content was generated from scratch, including interviews and stop-motion animations that communicated, very simply, easy tips to aid artists' practices. This app was co-created with Ali Milne.

Smith Project received a commendation in the App Design category at IDI design awards.

Dizzy

Identity for a music development agency created specifically to help independent artists get ahead in the often difficult-to-navigate music industry. From a minimalist logotype, an intricate pattern has been created to represent an industry which can be confusing at times for artists who aren't used to it.

The Public House

The Public House are a Dublin based advertising agency with a different take on things. Originally formed in a small studio above a much-loved Dublin landmark pub, The Bernard Shaw, they wanted their name and identity to reference their origins. Using the heraldic visual language often associated with pubs, we created a brand which is both playful and confident. We also managed to fit in a reference to the office dog, Pig.

Logos

A selection of logo design work for clients from a variety of sectors, ranging from corporate to consumer to entertainment.